Polished Concrete Floors

Has anyone else noticed an increase in the amount of polished concrete floors out there. They are starting to take the place of VCT finished surfaces.

Some of our accounts have them now. Through all of the training I must stay, that this is interesting stuff. From a cleaning perspective I really like it. Also, from what I am hearing. On an annual cost per sqf to keep up with it, it is cheaper than VCT. Anyone else hear this?

Chris you are correct and it does seem to be a fad, but for some it now brings in a higher cost Diamond Floor Pads for maintenance. Then there are questions about what prolonged use of these products does to the surface and are they digging a proverbial deeper hole. Time will tell.

3M has a product out that ha been tested and used for the last couple of years called their Scotchgard Stone Floor Protector. Once you put it down you never have to strip the floor again ,once or twice a year depending on traffic you clean the floor and reapply two thin coats and your done. Nice high gloss finish, the best part is you don't need any special equipment a walk behind scrubber and a high speed burnisher will do the job.

Absolutely. Polished concrete has become the flooring system of choice for architects, and facility owners alike. Not only are there benefits from low cost maintenance, but there are many other benefits, such as LEED certs, slip resistance, unlimited design capabilities, aesthetics & more. We offer cleaning professionals with in depth training and hands on procedures for polsihing concrete and maintenance prohgrams.

That's correct. so those of you that do floors for a living will have to add concrete polishing to your list of services. Its not a cheap investment though, very expensive, and you'll need training for sure.

then we suggest to go threw the process and find experience person or company to fix them
we do it all the time

Then hopefully a good maintenance program ;-)

Reason #1 - Excess water in the mix
Concrete does not require much water to achieve maximum strength. But a wide majority of concrete used in residential work has too much water added to the concrete on the job site. This water is added to make the concrete easier to install. This excess water also greatly reduces the strength of the concrete.
Shrinkage is a main cause of cracking. As concrete hardens and dries it shrinks. This is due to the evaporation of excess mixing water. The wetter or soupier the concrete mix, the greater the shrinkage will be. Concrete slabs can shrink as much as 1/2 inch per 100 feet. This shrinkage causes forces in the concrete which literally pull the slab apart. Cracks are the end result of these forces.

Reason #2 - Rapid Drying of the concrete
Also, rapid drying of the slab will significantly increase the possibility of cracking. The chemical reaction, which causes concrete to go from the liquid or plastic state to a solid state, requires water. This chemical reaction, or hydration, continues to occur for days and weeks after you pour the concrete.
You can make sure that the necessary water is available for this reaction by adequately curing the slab.

Reason #3- Improper strength concrete poured on the job
Concrete is available in many different strengths. Verify what strength the concrete you are pouring should be poured at.
Talk to the ready mix supplier

Reason #4 - Lack of control joints.
Control joints help concrete crack where you want it to. The joints should be of the depth of the slab and no more than 2-3 times (in feet) of the thickness of the concrete (in inches). So 4"concrete should have joints 8-12' apart.

Spec more Joints or add cuts now to prevent more cracks

their are more but just wanted to make sure the core question was addressed....

Polished concrete is indeed a growing industry. It is very expensive to place, and often oversold as a floor that needs very little maintenance and sometimes customers are under the impression that it requires "no maintenance". Once in place, it can be less expensive than acrylic technology. However, it is not a good candidate for areas that require chemical resistance (i.e. grocery stores, entrances with salt, restaurants). Extremely thin coatings are often a great solution for existing polished concrete in areas the require chemical and stain resistance.